Safety razor and blade magazine therefor



Oct. 29, 1946. w. STEINBACH SAFETY RAZOR AND BLADE MAGAZINE THEREFOR 2Sheets- Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 4, 1945.

INVENTOR ATTOIRNEYS 1946-: I w. STEINBACH 2,410,311

SAFETY RAZOR AND B LADE MAGAZINE THEREFOR Filed Jan. 4, 1945 2Sheets-Sheet 2 IJZ464/ ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 29, 1946 SAFETY RAZOR ANDBLADE MAGAZINE THEREFOR Warner Steinbach, Maplewood, N. J.

Application January 4, 1945, Serial No. 571,260

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a magazine for double-edge safety razor bladesand means whereby such a magazine can be mounted on the razor to injecta new blade while simultaneously ejecting a dull one. Magazines fordouble-edge blades have been proposed, but always, so far as I am aware,for use in connection with razors of special construction which areunnecessarily complicated and expensive or which cannot be used with thegeneral run of three-hole or slotted blades obtainable on the market. Myprimary object is to simplify and improve such magazines and to providea razor for use in connection therewith, which although modified toreceive the magazine in blade injecting-ejecting position is,nevertheless, capable of use with any standard blade in the time-honoredmanner. A further object of my invention is to provide improved meansfor preventing contact between the magazine and the cutting edges of theblades, both before and during the blade-discharging operation. Anotherobject of my invention is to provide simple and effective means forlocking the magazine in blade-feeding position on the razor so that anew blade can be accurately and quickly fed into shaving position whileits dull predecessor is being ejected.

As the standard double-edge safety razor is provided with a centralthreaded stud or rod depending from its cap or outer clamping plate. andalso with blade-locating pins or medial bar, likewise depending from thecap, it is impossible to feed a conventional blade into position betweenthe cap and guard plate without a complete separation of the two. Asthis is not feasible the blade must be provided with a medial slot.slightly wider than the thickest stud. rod, pin or bar, and left open atone end so that it can be fed into shaving po ition, open end foremost,straddling all obstructions-and likewise be ejected closed end foremost.I stack my open-slotted blades in a magazine with the open slots allfacing the discharge end, and urge them upward against the top of themagazine by means of a spring-pressed plate. A slide movable in alongitudinal slot in the top and provided with an external knob engagesthe rear end of the topmost blade and. on being moved forward,discharges it through a passage defined by the upper edge of the frontWall of the magazine and the top.

It is essential that the cutting edges of the blades never engage anypart of the magazine J or razor. To this end, I provide the rear cornersof the magazine with vertical guide blocks cooperating with projectionson the rear edges of the 2 blades to hold the rear of the cutting edgesout of contact with the side walls of the magazine, and also provide avertical guide rib along the inner face of the front wall extendingwithin the blade slots to hold the forward ends of the cutting edgesaway from the ide walls. As the forward guide must stop short of thedischarge passage and so cannot act on the topmost blade at any time,and as the rear guides cannot function on the topmost blade while it isbeing discharged, I provide other means for insuring that thecutting-edges of the topmost blade do not strike the walls of themagazine either before or during discharge: a spring tongue extendingupward from the pressure plate passes through the slots near theirforward ends and, bearing against the top of the magazine, serves tocenter the topmost blade and hold its forward cutting edges out ofcontact with the side walls of the magazine at all times, and the slideis shaped to fit snugly between the projections on the rear edge of thetopmost blade. These devices serve to center the topmost blade at all.times-before and during discharge-and prevent any contact of the cuttingedges with the magazine.

To mount my magazine on the razor I provide tongues on the formerengaging guideways on the under face of the guard plate, and to insureproper alignment I provide a projection on the magazine which enters acorresponding recess in the cap and is locked in position byturning therazor handle to separate the cap and the guard. This lock places thedischarge slot of the magazine in alignment with the slightly flexeddull blade in the razor so that movement of the slide toward the razorfeeds a new blade into shaving position while simultaneously ejectingthe dull one.

I have illustrated and described certain preferred embodiments of myinvention in the accompanying drawings. No doubt others also could bedevised within its purview and these, too, are embraced within myclaims.

In these drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the razor and magazine of my inventionshown in blade-feeding relationship.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the magazine detached from th razor,

Figure 3 is a plan view of the razor and magazine shown in Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a vertical section on an enlarged scale taken along line4--4 of Figure 3,

Figure 5 is a horizontal section taken along 1ine-5'5 of Figure 1,looking down,

and the top 3|.

Figure 6 is a horizontal section taken along line 6 of Figure 1 lookingup,

Figure 7 is a bottom view of the magazine top or cover,

Figure 8 is a top view of the pressure plate,

Figure 9 is a vertical section through the plate taken along line 99 ofFigure 8,

Figure 10 is a top view of the guard plate,

Figure '11 is an end view of the guard plate showing the guideways forthe magazine tongues,

Figure 12 is a transverse section on a still further enlarged scaletaken along line l2l?; of Figure 4,

Figure 13 is a similar section taken along line |3--|3 of Figure 4,

Figure 14 is a transverse section on the same large scale taken alongline |'-li l of Figure 3 and showing the condition of cap, guard anddull blade when the magazine is locked in block-feed ing position,

Figure 15 is a longitudinal section through the magazine taken alongline |5|5 of Figure 16, but on a smaller scale, similar to that ofFigure 4, but showing a modified form of blade-canton ing guide and alsoshowing the slide toward the end of its blade-discharging movement,

Figure 16 is a transverse section taken along line 15-h: of Figure 15and Figure 17 is a detail showing in perspective the relative positionsof the new incoming blade and the dull outgoing one.

In these drawings I have illustrated a conventional safety razor of theGillette type, modified as I shall describe presently and comprising acap 2%, a guard plate 2| and a handle 22, the guard plate beingpermanently but rotatably mounted on the handle in the usual way. Thecap is provided with the conventional blade-locating pins '23, extendingthrough holes 24 in the guard plate, and with a central threaded stud 25which enters a threaded socket 26 in the handle. The cap and guard plateare drawn together toclamp and fiex a blade between them by turning thehandle clockwise with respect to the guard plate and the two clampingmembers are separated by turning the handle counterclockwise.

In Figure 1 I have illustrated a magazine 2'! mounted in blade-feedingposition on the razor by means which I shall describe presently, butfirst I shall describe the magazine itseli: and its blade-feedingmechanism.

The magazine proper comprises a casing having abottom 29, top 3|, sidewalls 32, back wall 33' and front wall 34. I have shown the top 3|provided with depending flanges fitting over the side and rear walls,but this is not important and other means for constructing the casingmay be employed. Within the magazine at its rear corners, I provide apair of vertical guide blocks 35, and at the middle of the front wall 34a verticalguide rib 36 whose function it is to center the blades. Ahorizontal blade-discharge passage 37, as deep as the thickness of ablade, is provided between the top edge of the front wall 34 Extendingforwardly from the front wall 34 are a pair of tongues 33 adapted tocooperate with guideways on the guard plate, and

extending forwardly from the top 3| is a projection 39, dovetail incross section, which is adapted to engage a correspondingly shapedrecessin the cap of the razor to form a wedge lock. Slidably mountedwithin a, longitudinal slotdl inv the top 3i is a slide %2 provided withan external knob 43. Forward movement of the 4 slide along the slot 4|serves to expel a blade, in a manner to be described presently.

Supported upon the bottom of the magazine are four coil springs 44 whichsupport a pressure plate 45 which, in turn, supports a stack of blades.46. These blades, as illustrated in Figures 5 and 17 are double-edgeblades, each provided with a longitudinal slot 41 open at one end andclosed at the other. The rear edge of each blade is provided with tworearwardly extending projections 48. Extending upward from the plate 45is a spring tongue 49 which passes through the slots 41 of the stackedblades and, pressing against the underface of the top 3| of themagazine, acts to center the blades, including the topmost one,particularly at their forward or open-slotted ends. The rear projections48 on the blades engage the corner blocks 35, as illustrated in Figures5 and 6, and the guide rib 36 extends into the blade slots, and thus theblades are spaced from the side walls of the magazine and their cuttingedges protected.

The slide 52 is just wide enough to fit within the projections 48 alongthe rear edge of each blade. Thus when the slide has been retracted toits rearmost position as shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6, it fits'betweenthe projections 48 of the topmost blade, which is pressed against thetop 33 by the pressure plate and is in alignment with the slide. Whenthe slide is moved to the left through manipulation of the knob 53, thetopmost blade is disengaged from the stack and moved forward through thedischarge passage 37, lower blades being held back by the forward Wall.This movement is facilitated by the provision of ribs 50 on the lowerface of the top 3|. During the discharge movement of the topmost blade,its rear end is centered with reference to the side walls of themagazine by the action of the slide 42 fitting within the projections48. Meanwhile, the forward end of the blade is centered by means of thespring tongue 49. When the end of the slot 41 reaches the tongue 49, thetongue is depressed to permit overriding by the blade and from thispoint on the blade must be centered by the slide itself, but thispresents no difficulties because by this time most of the blade has leftthe magazine. The slot ll extends forward beyond the front wall 35 andthus enables the slide to discharge a blade completely. When one bladehas been discharged, the slide is returned to its initial position atthe rear of the magazine where it is held in readiness to dischargeanother.

I shall now describe the means for mounting and locking the magazineupon the razor. Guideways for the tongues 38 are formed at each end ofthe guard plate 2! by cutting strips of metal from the guard plate andbending them downwardly and inwardly to form the angles 5|. This is asimple and inexpensive method of forming guideways, although other meansmight be employed, or separate guideways mounted on the underface of theguard plate. As shown in Figures 2 and 14, the tongues 38 are laterallytapered slightly to make a snug fit between the horizontal flanges ofthe angles 5| and the lower arcuate face of the guide plate which,between them, define the guideways. The magazine is now mounted on therazor, but not locked there. In order to lock the magazine inbladefeeding position, I provide a recess 52 at each end of the cap 20,which recess is provided with upend of the magazine top, as illustratedbest in Figure 14.

When an old dull blade is to be ejected from the razor and replaced by anew sharp one, the cap and guard plate are moved toward each other byturning the handle to the right. Thereupon the magazine is mounted uponthat end of the guard plate underlying the open-slotted end of the dullblade by inserting the tongues 38 within the guideways and pressing themagazine home until its front wall 34 abuts against the adjacent edge ofthe guide plate. With the parts in this position the projection 39overlies one of the recesses 52. In order to lock the magazine on therazor, the handle is then turned counterclockwise to separate the guardplate and cap, thus firmly seating the projection 39 within the adjacentrecess 52, and releasing the clamping pressure on the dull blade. We nowhave the dull blade only slightly flexed between the spaced cap andguard plate, as illustrated in Figures 14 and 17, and the parts are inreadiness for the blade injecting-ejecting operation. Movement of theslide to the left discharges a sharp blade from the magazine. Theforward end of this blade engages the adjacent end of the flexed dullblade, as illustrated in Figure 17, and ejects the latter from the razoras the new blade takes its place. Now the handle is turned clockwise toclamp the new blade and flex it into shaving position. This releases thecam lock and permits withdrawal of the magazine.

In Figures 15 and 16, I have illustrated a modified form ofblade-centering means. Instead of the fixed guide rib 36 and the springtongue 49 extending upwardly from the plate 45, I combine the two andprovide the inner face of the forward wall 34 with a spring-pressedguide 54 which normally presses against the top of the magazine andcenters all of the blades including the topmost. Like the spring tongue49, this guide 54, although normally pressing against the under surfaceof the top 3| of th magazine, may be depressed to permit overriding bythe blade being discharged.

In actual practice I would construct my magazine of plastic or somelight cheap metal, mount the blade stack within it at the factory andmake it nonrefillable. Thus the whole would constitute a blade packageto be discarded when emptied of its contents-the blades.

Although the razor used with my magazine must be adapted to receive it,as shown and described, nevertheless it is not so difierent from theordinary Gillette-type razor as not to be usable in the regular way withregular blades.

I claim:

1. A magazine for holding a stack of blades each having an open-endedlongitudinal slot and having a blade discharge passage between its topand forward wall, means at the discharge end of the magazine formounting it on the guard plate of a safety razor, a projection formingpart of a lock extending from the magazine at its discharge end, andmeans for discharging blades one by one.

2. Apparatus for feeding razor blades into shaving position comprising arazor blade magazine having a discharge passage, a safety razor havingclamping members for a blade, means for mounting the magazine on one ofthe clamping members with its discharge passage facing the razor,interlocking means on the magazine and the other clamping member andmeans for separating the clamping member to lock the magazine inblade-feeding relation to the razor.

3. The combination of a double-edge safety razor comprising guard plateand cap, a recess in the cap, a guide on the guard plate, a magazine forholding a stack of blades, and having a blade discharge passage at oneend, an extension on the magazine cooperating with th guide on the guardplate to mount the magazine on the razor, a projection on the magazineat its discharge end extending into the correspondingly shaped recess inthe cap, means for discharging blades one by one, from the magazine andfeeding them between the guard plate and cap while ejecting a dull bladefrom the razor, and means for separating the guard plate and cap to lockthe magazine on th razor with the discharge passage in alignment withthe blade-receiving space between guard plate and cap, and release thepressure on the dull blade.

WARNER STEINBACH.

